The Twitter Big Bang

The Big Bang has happened. Twitter is everywhere.

Need proof? 61 percent of TV sitcoms recently mentioned twitter.

So Bill French’s story began at the 2009 EntConnect conference.

What a timely topic. Last November, my writer’s group,
Words for the Journey, had turned me on to twitter so I have an elementary understanding of it.

Bill French was the first of many presenters to speak on Social Media. He is one of the founders of MyST Technology Partners, Inc., which is “… focused on creating new and useful Web 2.0 products and services.”

Okay. What does Web 2.0 have to do with writing? Among many things, Web 2.0 facilitates communication and collaboration on the World Wide Web. And if you are reading this blog and commenting on it, you are doing just that.

Bill started with the basics.

Social Media participation necessitates two ideals:
1. Outbound messaging – How you message
2. Inbound monitoring – How you listen

The micro-blog tool, twitter, limits these information chunks to 140 characters.

Bill envisioned twitter like a giant water main, carrying an ever growing stream of information. In itself, twitter has no monetary value. The real value comes from the siphons. Applications tap into this stream of consciousness and derive meaningful information from this public timeline. Bill projected that by 2010 there will be 1100 twitter applications created to do just that.

As a writer, twitter and its applications can be a valuable tool for listening in the global conversation, gathering information, and starting a conversation, but certainly not ending it.

The following blogs, I will share some of the social media tools presented at the conference and how they may be of value to writers. And I would like to hear your thoughts, experiences, insights.


Related links:

EntConnect website: www.entconnect.org
Twitter: twitter.com

Bill French links:
myst-technology.com
blogsite.com